Candidate Name: Brandee Marckmann
Phone Number: 415-340-2263
Web site: https://www.brandee4schools.com/
E-mail: team@brandee4schools.com
Name of Campaign Manager: Olivia McHaney
How much do you expect to spend in this contest:
Major Endorsements:
Harvey Milk LGBT+ Democratic Club
Working Families Party
Fmr. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano
Fmr. D1 Supervisor and Fmr. Board of Ed Commissioner Sandra Lee Fewer
D10 Supervisor Shamann Walton
D9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder
Fmr. D3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin
Fmr. D5 Supervisor Dean Peston
Incumbent whose votes are most similar to the way you would vote: Matt Alexander
Incumbent who votes least similarly to the way you would vote: Parag Gupta/ Phil Kim
1. What lessons did you take from the recent strike? What would you have done differently than the incumbents, if anything?
I saw that, despite the fact that our current Board of Education (which is dominated by commissioners who have been endorsed by political action committees funded by pro-charter school billionaires), San Francisco is still a union town.
Unlike my main opponent, who is a charter school executive who was funded by one of the MAGA billionaires behind Project 2025 when he ran for office in 2018, I would have pushed the superintendent to honor the union's requests for affordable health care 11 months ago so there wouldn't have been a strike in the first place.
2. What is your stance on school closures for budgetary reasons?
School closures do not save money - when public schools close, they are usually converted into charter schools. Charter schools negatively affect public school enrollment, therefore draining school money from school districts.
School closures are a weapon in the arsenal of school privatization and gentrification.
News of massive school closures makes public schools less desirable to prospective parents, which depresses enrollment numbers (and therefore funding). In a city where one out of three children attends private school, SFUSD must stabilize schools to attract families.
My main opponent, who is a charter school executive, was the architect of a reckless plan to permanently close 13 schools in 2024.
3. What is your stance on pandemic safety in the schools? Under what
circumstances might you support instating a mask or vaccine
mandate, or canceling in-person classes? What would be the main
basis on which you make this decision? (e.g., would it be based on
your gut feelings, or whose advice would you listen to?)
My late younger brother was immunocompromised and died from pneumonia at the age of 40. I would center the needs of disabled children and staff with autoimmune disorders and weak immune systems.
4. How (if at all) would you like to see AI used in the classroom and
implemented in the curriculum?
I don't think AI should be used in the classroom or implemented in the curriculum.
5. Do you have practical ideas on how SFUSD can be adequately funded?
Revenue generation is critical to ensuring that our schools are fully funded. I will ask my fellow board members and the superintendent to join me in calling on the California state legislature to put Prop 13 reform on the ballot. For nearly 50 years, Prop 13 has drained over $200 billion California schools and communities. It is unconscionable that California is the only state in the nation that provides a commercial property tax break to corporations. For example, Disneyland is paying the same dollar amount in property tax that it did in 1978. Prop 15 (Schools and Communities First) almost passed in 2020 - it lost by just 2% - and it is essential that California “Trump-proof” our budget.
I will also ask my fellow school board members, the superintendent, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to ask the California legislature to support CalCare (Medicare for All), which would provide better and less expensive health care coverage than private insurance companies. This would reap huge savings for the school district and for educators.
6. How are you currently involved in the SFUSD -- or how were you
involved in the past?
I'm currently a School Site Council representative at my son's middle school. The school district appointed me to serve as one of two K-8/middle school parent reps for the LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) Advisory Committee.
When my son was in elementary school, I served as the school site council (SSC) chair at his school. I'm currently an SSC member at the middle school he attends.
I co-founded an organization called the San Francisco Education Alliance. We are a group of SFUSD parents who believe that our public schools should be fully-funded, inclusive, and not privatized.
7. How do you feel about the current school assignment system
(including at Lowell)? Would you make changes, and if so, which
ones?
I think that in the richest city in the richest state in the richest country of the world, all of our SFUSD schools should have exceptional programming. If this were the case we would not need to have lotteries and waitlists. We should be ashamed that our public schools are so underfunded. That is the core issue here and once that issue is addressed we won't have a few schools that are sought after and others that are not. Our current funding level creates a system of “winners” and “losers” and needs to be changed.
8. Some of our schools receive significant funding from parent
fundraising. Are you concerned about the inequality in fundraising
between schools in rich and poor neighborhoods, and if so,
what ideas do you have to make things more equitable?
Yes, I'm concerned about the inequity in PTA fundraising amongst schools. In the richest city in the richest state in the richest country of the world, families shouldn't have to hold bake sales to fund our schools. This is similar to the previous question. As long as we are not adequately funding our schools we will have inequity which hurts our most vulnerable communities.
Revenue generation is critical to ensuring that our schools are fully funded. I will ask my fellow board members and the superintendent to join me in calling on the California state legislature to put Prop 13 reform on the ballot. For nearly 50 years, Prop 13 has drained over $200 billion California schools and communities. It is unconscionable that California is the only state in the nation that provides a commercial property tax break to corporations. For example, Disneyland is paying the same dollar amount in property tax that it did in 1978. Prop 15 (Schools and Communities First) almost passed in 2020 - it lost by just 2% - and it is essential that California “Trump-proof” our budget.
9. Are you familiar with the case of Williams et al. v State of California? Do you believe that all schools in the SFUSD are currently in compliance with Williams?
Yes. No.
10. What is your position on JROTC in the public schools?
I would rather that funding for JROTC go toward making class sizes smaller.
11. Would you support district elections for school board members?
I'm not sure. I can see pros and cons to citywide elections and district school board elections. I am in favor of district elections for the Board of Supervisors.
12. What is your stance on allowing noncitizen parents, guardians and caretakers of students to vote in school board elections? Did you take a public position on previous ballot initiatives on the subject?
Support. I did not take a public stance but I'm proud to have voted for this measure.
13. What are your thoughts on the various non-profit organizations that partner and/or contract with SFUSD?
Having a large corps of classified staff (and keeping contracting out to an absolute bare minimum) is key to keeping morale high. Contracting out services to nonprofits who do not provide living wages to their staff can cost the district more money in the long run in terms of higher staff turnover.
A city that is geographically prone to earthquakes and tsunamis needs to have a strong corps of classified personnel who may need to be summoned in the event of a city emergency. San Francisco's city's civil service workers supported the city during the early years of the COVID pandemic, literally saving lives and providing basic needs and safety measures to the San Franciscans.
I will push to sever the contracts of a number of SFUSD's highly paid private consultants and using those funds provide veteran classified staff with release time to create professional development and training opportunities.
14. How do you see the role of the School Board in comparison to the role of the superintendent?
I firmly believe it's the Board's job to hold the Superintendent accountable to the public.The role of the Board of Education is to represent the community's voice in public education, providing co-governance and shared knowledge of the community's resources and needs.
15. Would you ensure that all San Francisco students have access to a free, public pre-K program? If so, how?
Yes. I will use my platform to ask Board of Education commissioners to join me in asking the mayor of San Francisco to follow New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's lead of providing truly affordable child care to families with young children.
16. Have you read Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the
Great American School System? What lessons should the District
take from this work? Whether or not you've read the book, what
role do you see for charter schools in the public education
system?
No, but I've read Ravitch's book Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools and have begun reading her autobiography, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else. The organization I co-founded, the San Francisco Education Alliance, is a member of the grassroots network of the Network for Public Education, which is a think tank that Ravitch founded and currently leads. I've attended the Network for Public Education conferences in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.
I'm in favor of a moratorium on new charter schools.
17. What do you think of the current requirements that students take
the SBAC test, and what are your thoughts on standardized testing
in general?
I have traditionally opted my child out of most SBAC tests. I'm extremely concerned about the intense focus on standardized testing in SFUSD and in other districts. It's important for students to have a well-rounded education, with ample opportunities to take art, music, and theater classes.
18. How can the public schools better address the needs of Special
Education students and ESL students?
One of my planks is smaller class sizes, which especially benefits students in special education and our English language learners.
I regularly attend meetings of the Community Advisory Council on Special Education and worked for five years as the program director of an adult ESL program.
The district needs to follow the recommendations of the Community Advisory Council on Special Education and the District English Learner Advisory Council
Community Advisory Council on Special Education Recommendations:
Onboarding & Recruitment- improve the onboarding processes and expand hiring fairs and other recruitment efforts needed to expedite hiring qualified special education providers
Caseload Retention- (workload vs caseload model) lessens the administrative burden by improving case management caseloads and the added burden of administrative duties in addition to directly supporting students .
Training-Provide trauma informed and culturally sensitive training -We are specifically requesting that we move away from PBIS (behavioral focused training ) and move towards trauma informed training (Ross Greene's Trauma informed practices and Safe schools resolution) and we are recommending co-training opportunities for ALL school site staff to address “school avoidance” (due to mental health challenges)
Address chronic absenteeism (school avoidance) Identify and implement a comprehensive and collaborative wraparound plan with clear objectives and strategies. This should include consistent attendance goals, accommodations (calming spaces) and other trauma informed strategies in collaboration with families, school site staff and IEP teams all working together to support the student.
District English Learner Advisory Council recommendations:
Increase access to information in the district's major languages to ensure Multilingual families are well-informed about post-graduation plans and opportunities for their students. Offer these resources through accessible formats, including workshops, video conferences, parent-teacher conferences, and other school and community events.
Implement the Spanish Dual Language Immersion (DLI) & Biliteracy 50/50 Model starting in the Fall 2025 semester. This will give Spanish-speaking students access to English instruction for 50% of their time starting in Kindergarten.
Ensure that educators receive training in working with English language learners.